Why your next Car should be fully Electric
Don't even think about hybrid or hydrogen. Obviously not ICE.
TL;DR
If you are intelligent and read, i.e. you “believe” we are suffering from a climate crisis (believe it as in the Earth is spherical and the Sun will rise in the East tomorrow), your next car must be fully electric.
We can generate electricity in ways that does not generate CO2, the best being Nuclear Fission, but even a single coal power plant is way better for the climate than thousands of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE).
Other reasons your next car must be fully electric:
For the life of the car, fully electric will generate less CO2, cradle to grave, than an an ICE vehicle.
Hydrogen and hybrid are increased complexity for minimal benefit.
Your country may provide tax incentives for fully electric cars.
Your running costs including fuel and maintenance will be way cheaper than any other alternative.
You will spend less time fixing and fueling your car.
The torque is way more than any other alternative for the comparative price.
Range is not a problem for 99% of usecases.
Introduction
Victoria (a state in Australia) recently have had to scrap their EV tax for being unconstitutional:
I mean I know Australia has very stupid politicians. But this one takes the cake. Putting a tax on electric vehicles. Yes I get that the fuel excise pays for roads maintained by the various State Governments and EV owners don’t pay for fuel. But just increase the tax on all vehicle registrations. Do not discourage EV’s.
This is an article about why your next new car must be fully electric.
Hydrogen is not the answer
This is pretty funny about Hydrogen cars:
Love the first comment on Hacker News:
“There is an Oil Sector Lobby and there is an Electric Sector Lobby too. All Lobbies hate competition.
The electric sector wants to destroy Hydrogen because it competes with them, of course, they want to destroy the seed so no tree comes out of it. Hydrogen disappearing is not going to happen, because it going to be necessary for some things, like heavy transportation.
Just because clean Hydrogen is in the early stages in development (like EV were 15 years ago) does not mean that we should develop the technology.
I personally believe that NH3 is great for storing energy and energy transportation, and extremely useful for things like growing food.
It is also toxic and difficult to handle, like oil, but in lots of sectors(like heavy industries) it makes lots of sense. In other sectors, electricity and batteries make more sense. Different technologies will coexist together and compete.”For me it comes down to: why generate hydrogen, transport it with risk, convert it to electricity? Instead just generate electricity directly and use it. Maybe for planes is different but for cars, just fully electric please.
Not convinced. Well:
Hydrogen car sales in the US 2015-2021
I mean this may as well be zero:
Ammonia engines are not the answer
Toyota, really Chinese GEC, developed an ammonia engine
I'm not buying this at all.
Again love Hacker News comments:
“People freak out about EV battery fires now (never mind that this is not actually the problem it is made out to be), can you imagine the hazmat situation from a couple of cars carrying who knows how many KG of Anhydrous Ammonia crashing into each other? I mean, you might make the fuel tanks extremely robust (and heavy) but fuel lines etc will still break. Ammonia in the air at 300 PPM will cause SEVERE injuries to anybody in the area not wearing a respirator.
And how are you supposed to fuel these cars? Have you seen the PPE you have to wear when handling Anhydrous Ammonia?”You like the Hindenburg with Hydrogen. Well you will love Ammonia.
German and Japanese car industries are zombies
“Mercedes reported an 11% decline in premium vehicle sales, totaling 69,900 units in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. On Tuesday, the automaker disclosed that worldwide sales for its flagship S-Class model recorded an 18% drop. Additionally, sales in China, the brand's largest market for the model, tumbled 12%.”China is the biggest car market in the world.
The Chinese are buying fewer German and Japanese cars.
Why?
Because their domestic, especially electric cars, are far superior to Japanese and German.
China owns the core tech:
This is Mercedes. In the 1980’s Mercedes was the world leader in innovation. The first to add:
Heated seats.
DVD player.
“Large” screen at the front, TV at the back.
GPS.
Mercedes is buying battery tech from BYD.
An electric car is 80% battery.
Mercedes is buying self driving tech from Huawei:
This is Mercedes “innovation” in 2023:
Let that sink in.
If you can’t see the writing on the wall, I have a bridge I want to sell you.
Why fully Electric Cars
Transportation is 14% of global CO2. It is material. It is not like single use plastic bag reduction for tackling the climate crisis. If you say this is just another articles about cars and climate crisis please read:
We can generate electricity without C02
https://rakkhi.substack.com/i/135702832/what-can-we-do
Cradle to grave, ICE cars generate more C02 than fully electric
There maybe tax incentives to buy a fully electric car in your country
EV’s are far less complex, reducing your maintenance costs
Just apply logic: EV’s have far fewer parts:
This is also why any sort of hybrid (plug-in etc.) are the worst of both worlds. High complexity.
If cost does not convince you: how about time spent repairing and maintaining. Do you complain you do not have enough time to spend with your kids or working on the said hassle or with your friends.. Well…
You will spend less money and time on fuel
Petrol, Diesel and Natural Gas is expensive. It will only get more expensive if the Middle East conflict turns into a full blown war. It is even more expensive if you use 99+ Octane.
Oh yeah, remember that the US averaged 9% price inflation in 2022. Even with lower price inflation in 2023, that is a compounding effect:
My friend put in 14KW of Solar into his house for about $12k AUD in 2022. He has a BYD. He has not paid an electricity bill nor a fuel bill in 6 months.
He also never goes to the petrol station.
The torque is way more than any other alternative for the price
Do yourself a favour. Go drive a fully electric car. It will take you 1-2 hours max. The torque even on a $40-60k AUD car is something that needs to be felt to be believed.
EV’s are far quieter than ICE. This is awesome when idle at traffic lights
The range is not a problem for 99% of daily driving
Most EV’s these days have 300-400 KM range on a full charge. It takes 15-20 mins from zero to full charge at a fast charger. But most of the time even without a fast charger, just charge when the sun is shining. Charge at the Costco. Charge when you stop for lunch. Charge at your hotel. Charge at home.
If you have an apartment with no charger. Well a lot of councils are adding EV charging to street parking. This will only increase over time.
If you really need to drive 500km+ in a day with no charging. Hire an ICE car. In future, this will be like hiring a horse today. Enjoy the benefits 360 / 365 days.
Your upfront cost for an EV is not more than ICE. Your TCO is lower.
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/ev-vs-ice-excel/
Lithium iron fires are worse but less likely
Regulation will outlaw ICE, your non fully electric car value will drop like a stone
Conclusion
Your next new car must be fully electric. If you want to buy a cheap used car (ICE, plug-in hybrid etc.) that is better for the environment. Great. If you want to take advantages of reduced tax on a novated lease and every other cost on a new car, keep it for 5 years, then get another new car, make it fully electric. Do it for the environment, do it for your wallet, do it for time with your kids.